Repeal of Amendment Making Factions Optional

[FernLeissa]

There is a motion that has been brought before the RA to discuss the repeal of the Constitutional Amendment making factions optional.

I am a member of the Democratic Pragmatists Union (DPU) and did not agree with the amendment making them optional.

However, the amendment obviously had broad public support at the time. I am interested to hear how citizens currently feel after two (I think) elections without factions.

This is kind of a tough question to answer because we had so few (too few) RA candidates for the 14th term but I'd really like to see a little discussion about this topic before the RA votes on it.

Fern

[Guillaume Mistwalker]

Although I may be a member of a faction, I do not believe that hinders my ability to make an unbiased decision. Without the factions, we -- as in, RA legislators -- have no program to run upon largely. And, this does not help the electorate because they do not know the specific opinions of candidates without factions anymore. Whilst factions certainly should not be required, they should be recommended; though, how to recommend them to candidates and to the electorate is a problem both of popularity of the decision and of how to execute it.

[Trebor Warcliffe]

I would be against repealing the Constitutional Amendment making factions optional. We are in a Representative Democracy and when I cast my vote for a candidate I am casting my vote for that individual, not the group he is a member of. Why does an individual have to belong to a faction to have a program to run upon? Can’t a candidate express his specific opinions on his own? By making factions mandatory you are forcing candidates to choose sides when in reality we should all be working together as one faction all for the betterment of the CDS. Let us not make rules that divide us, let us make them to bring us together.